Honouring Divine Mother

Twice a year, Divine Mother’s energies dominate the cosmic sphere to bless everyone with the opportunity to balance their mind, body and soul. Her glory shines her light and blessings again on all her children during this time. The divinity and glory of the Divine Mother is supreme and honouring her is the greatest blessing in itself for a devotee.

As an expression of love, gratitude and devotion to the energies of the Supreme Mother cultures across the globe, honour her various forms. The south-east asian sub-continent celebrates this divine time as a festival called Navratri.

WHAT IS ‘NAVRATRI’?

An astrologically powerful and auspicious nine days to celebrate and honor the energies and glory of the Supreme Mother is called NAVRATRI (pronounced as ‘Nav-ra-tri’ or ‘Nuhv-rah-tree’).  Navratri means Nine nights of honoring. Through these nine days and nights, the multitude forms of Divine Mother are respected and worshipped.

This powerful time to honour the divinity and graces of Divine Mother popularly worshipped as ‘Maa’, begins on the first day of the growing moon and continues for nine days. 

Divine Mother whose glory is unsurpassed, blesses us all with Her love and compassion showing us the rightful pathway so that we may take our journey of this life in humbleness and gratitude. 

SIGNIFICANCE OF NAVRATRI

The auspicious festival of Navratri is celebrated twice a year. Once in the beginning of Spring (march-april) called Chaitra Navratri and the next in the beginning of Autumn (september-october) called Sharad Navratri. These two periods coincide with the climatic and astrological changes which make it an extremely powerful time to cleanse the mind, body and spirit. It is a sacred opportunity to express devotion and reverence to the divinity of the Divine Mother. Mother energies reign supreme in all cultures. A Mother is considered as the biggest giver and so when Divine Mother is lovingly giving, its powered blessings galore. To unleash the benefits of these blessings that Divine Mother showers in the Cosmic space, honouring Divine Mother’s energies in her various forms is paramount in different cultures around the world. Amongst Hindus, Supreme Mother is worshipped in her popular forms of Durga, Saraswati, Lakshmi, Annapurna, Parvati and more. Christians pray to the Virgin Mary, Mother of Lord Jesus. While the Greeks worship Goddess Gaia, and the Egyptians honour Goddesses Hathor and Isis. 

We are blessed that we receive this auspicious opportunity twice a year to express our love and devotion to the cosmic’s Female Divinity who is an embodiment of the infinite universal power of valor, righteousness, prosperity and wisdom.This period of heightened cosmic energies with Divine Mother’s blessings, is an excellent time when seekers are able to break through  the patterns of anger, ego, ignorance, desire and other patterns that bind humans to the world of illusion. Breaking these patterns enables in attaining freedom from the cycle of karma.  

HOW DO WE HONOUR DIVINE MOTHER?

During the nine day period of Navratri, the cosmic energies are heightened and devotees are able to lift their vibrational frequency through their gratitude, commitment and devotion to the energies of the Divine Mother. Many devotees fast through the day and consume one meal of blessed food during the first eight days of Navratri. On the ninth day, a big feast is organised to culminate the period of festive celebrations. Prayers and chanting are of prime focus during this time, showing our devotion and dedication towards uplifting ourselves. Honoring the glorious energies of the Universal Mother connects us to our own heart energies of love and compassion for self. And when this love and compassion overflow, others automatically feel it from the devotee. To amplify the divine love and positivity of the occasion, Divine Bliss has organised special candle lighting every evening for these glorious nine days. Everyone is invited to participate in these uplifting ceremonies. You can honor a candle on your behalf by going to https://openthelightwithin.org/honoring/

SIGNIFICANCE OF NINE DAYS OF HONOURING

Nine days of honouring the energies of the Divine Mother who gave birth the human body is associated with the nine energetic bodies or chakras of the human body. On each day, a devotee works on clearing and uplifting the energies of an energetic chakra of his/her body by following a schedule of fasting and doing prayers, chants and worshipping the energies of Divine Mother in true devotion. This way, over the course of nine days, the devotee can reset all the nine energetic bodies or chakras, thereby experiencing a total energetic upliftment in the positivity of mind, body and spirit. It is also understood that during this energetically powerful time, all good actions bring positive results in many folds, so besides doing good deeds, making offerings and donations are some amazing things one can do for their Higher Self.

CELEBRATION DAYS

This year the festivity of Sharad Navratri is time to celebrate her divine energetic presence which will reign the cosmic space from 7th October to 15th October 2021.

Every day of Navratri, a different form of Divine Mother is worshipped. The honouring is done with gratitude and devotion for the blessings of divine knowledge, strength, prosperity and abundance that Mother bestows on us constantly.

Day 1: 7 Oct 2021, Maa Shailputri (Colour of Day – Yellow)
Day 2: 8 Oct 2021, Maa Brahmacharini (Colour of Day – Green)
Day 3: 9 Oct 2021, Maa Chandraghanta and Maa Kushmanda (Colour of Day – Grey)
Day 4: 10 Oct 2021, Maa Skandamata (Colour of Day – Orange)
Day 5: 11 Oct 2021, Maa Katyayani (Colour of Day – White)
Day 6: 12 Oct 2021, Maa Kalratri (Colour of Day – Red)
Day 7: 13 Oct 2021, Maa Mahagauri (Colour of Day – Royal Blue)
Day 8: 14 Oct 2021, Maa Siddhidatri (Colour of Day – Pink)
Day 9: 15 Oct 2021, Durga Visarjan, Vijayadashami (Colour of Day – Purple)